Vol. I · No. 1 · MMXXVI
NextChapterBench A Benchmark of Literary Continuation
23 models · 10 items · 1 judge

The Standings → GPT‑6.1 Sol (high)

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OpenAI

GPT‑6.1 Sol (high)

high reasoning effort · via Codex CLI · judged by Claude Sonnet 5 · not the setting shown on the standings; also run at medium66.1 xhigh63.1

Results from run ‘first’: ten items, ten verdicts.

GPT‑6.1 Sol (high) scores 63 on craft, level with the field’s 63 and 30 points short of the authors themselves. Its shape differs from the field’s: relatively strong on restraint and folding the brief into the story, relatively weak on period detail and momentum. On the mechanical checks it kept to the brief’s word range on 9 of 10 items.

Headline 63.0 of 100 · compliance × craft
Compliance 100 of 100
Craft 63 of 100

The record: 10 items · 10 verdicts · 0 errors · 2,357 words on average · est. generation cost $0.86

Read the chapters in full

§ I

Craft by Dimension

Eight dimensions, each 0–100, averaged over ten items; the author’s real chapter was in the room every time.

Craft by dimension, 0–100 · judged by Sonnet 5 beside the author’s real chapter

Voice
63
Prose
63
Character
63
Scene
62
Integration
63
Momentum
60
Restraint
72
Specificity
61
0255075100
reader’s score, 0–100 · hollow tick: field average · filled tick: the authors themselves

The authors themselves average 93 on the five writing dimensions, the field 63, this model 63. Hover or focus a bar for the field and the authors on that dimension.

In plain words, item by item

The judge’s one-sentence best quality and worst flaw for each chapter, written for a general reader.


§ II

Per-Item Results

Headline, compliance and craft for each chapter, 0–100.

The same ten items in figures, with word counts.
Item Headline Compliance Craft Words
The Secret Garden item 013 · after ch. 2 · Frances Hodgson Burnett 80.4100802,266
Persuasion item 001 · after ch. 1 · Jane Austen 71.0100712,327
Dracula item 015 · after ch. 5 · Bram Stoker 66.795702,650
The Sun Also Rises item 021 · after ch. 3 · Ernest Hemingway 62.5100622,300
The Mysterious Affair at Styles item 017 · after ch. 3 · Agatha Christie 62.3100622,566
The Moonstone item 011 · after ch. 8 · Wilkie Collins 60.0100602,472
The War of the Worlds item 006 · after ch. 1 · H. G. Wells 57.2100572,385
Red Harvest item 023 · after ch. 2 · Dashiell Hammett 57.2100572,422
The Awakening item 016 · after ch. 7 · Kate Chopin 56.5100561,650
Leave It to Psmith item 022 · after ch. 3 · P. G. Wodehouse 56.1100562,530

§ III

Length Against the Brief

Words written per item, against each brief’s maximum.

Word count per item vs. brief maximum · run ‘first’

words written brief maximum
The Secret Garden
2,266
Persuasion
2,327
Dracula
2,650
The Sun Also Rises
2,300
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
2,566
The Moonstone
2,472
The War of the Worlds
2,385
Red Harvest
2,422
The Awakening
1,650
Leave It to Psmith
2,530
08001,6002,4003,200
words; the ink tick marks each brief’s maximum

Nine of ten items landed inside their brief’s word range. Dracula ran over by 50 words.


§ IV

Worst Flaws, as Recorded

Each verdict names the chapter’s single worst flaw, with evidence. Quoted verbatim from run ‘first’.

Psmith barely uses his trademark 'Comrade' way of addressing people, so he sounds flatter and less himself than usual, and the interview scene doesn't connect to anything else happening in the story (no mention of McTodd or Cynthia).

on Leave It to Psmith, item 022 · Claude Sonnet 5

The writing is often flatly functional, stating what happens ('A part of the house, seldom used, might be shut up') instead of finding the vivid, telling image that would make the scene memorable.

on Persuasion, item 001 · Claude Sonnet 5

The chapter reads like a checklist being ticked off one item at a time, especially the Robert-and-Adèle walk, which is over in a few flat lines instead of feeling like a real conversation.

on The Awakening, item 016 · Claude Sonnet 5

Almost the whole chapter is built from rapid one-line question-and-answer exchanges, so scenes read like an interview transcript instead of a scene with people, rooms, and pauses in it.

on Red Harvest, item 023 · Claude Sonnet 5

§ V

The Mechanical Docket

Automated screening results across the ten outputs.